Entertainment

Apple CEO Tim Cook Made More Than Twitter Last Year

Apple CEO Tim Cook received $378 million in compensation last year, which makes him the highest-paid CEO and puts his annual income at a level that hot startups can only envy.

For example, Twitter may hit Cook's 2011 income level in 2013, according to eMarketer, but it only made around $139.5 million last year. (Others have offered higher estimates for Twitter's revenues. Twitter, a private company, does not disclose its financials.)

Cook also made more than online ticketing platform Eventbrite, Angry Birds creator Rovio and tied the gross domestic product figure for Tonga, while beating the GDP for three other countries.

The $378 million that Apple paid Cook in 2011, revealed in an SEC filing from the company on Monday, was mostly made up of a grant of unrestricted stock. The aim of the grant was to retain the 51 year-old Cook for around 10 years, the vesting period for the stock. Although Steve Jobs — Cook's predecessor — famously accepted a $1-a-year salary (vs. $900,000 for Cook), Jobs owned enough Apple stock to make him a multi-billionaire. Cook was granted one million stock units in August when he became CEO. Half of his stock award is set to vest in 2016. The rest will vest in 2021.

To put Cook's big payday further in perspective, here's a rundown of how many Apple products Cook could conceivably buy:

756,000 iPads

378,378 entry-level MacBook Airs

1,899,497 iPhone 4Ses with the same number of two-year contracts

What do you think? Is Cook worth the money? Sound off in the comments.

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